"Reflecting on What I Know"

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

A Quick Overview of the AT Concept: You
Tube Video: Understanding Assistive Technology:Simply Said.

I learned from the You Tube
Video: Understanding Assistive
Technology:Simply Said, that every
state has a technology program at http://www.ataporg.org/. There are also Pacer
activity centers that can help those who need assistive devices to explore
resources that are available. They have lending library that lets people try
different kinds of AT to discover what works best for them.

2a
Paper Punch (Fiskars) This tool would for a student that
has trouble holding objects. This paper punch features a large, non-stick
button for whole-hand use. It offers 13 different "punch" shapes.
Students can enjoy decorating and designing items with the fun pieces they can
punch by just placing the hand over the puncher and pressing down.

2bMary Benbow Scissors (OT Ideas) There
are all sorts of adaptive scissors for children who do not have mature fine
motor skills.This would be good for
children who have problems holding items with the hands, because these scissors
feature small finger loops coated in vinyl to help scissors stay on the child's
fingers for a better grip.

II.
Elementary age-

3a
Built up Grips Some students can more easily grasp and
hold pens, pencils or markers if they're built up and made larger. Some
students can more easily grasp and hold pens, pencils or markers if they're
built up and made larger.

3b
eBooks-These areaccessed
on the internet and it has a touch screen to increase the size of the

font for kids who have vision problems. The eBook is
currently available in two models from Gemstar: the GEB 1150 (previously Rocket
eBook) and the larger, full-color GEB 2150. Features include the ability to
take notes in the margins, use the touch screen to bookmark pages and to
increase the size of the font.

III. Secondary and/or Post-Secondary-

4a.
Touch Turner (Touch Turner). This was chosen because it has
page turners, which can be used with a single switch. Pressing a switch turns
the page and holds it in place. Some models also turn pages in reverse. There
are two models that have forward turning and forward/reverse.

4b
Math Line This would be good to help with math manipulations.
It is an actual math line that can be held and manipulated. Move the rings down
the line to see how numbers represent size and quantity. There are Manuals and
videos on using this self-contained math tool.

IV. Home and Recreation5a. TV/VCR/Cable Remote (Enabling
Devices). It has a cordless remote, and this would be good to help a child
watch an educational video at home.This
cordless remote unit allows the user to control the basic functions of a TV,
VCR, or cable box by simply operating one or more switches! It accommodates 5
switches--one for each function.

5b
All-Turn-It T Spinner (Ablenet, Inc.). This would be a good
device for a child who enjoys playing games. It uses a spinner for curriculum
adaptations, Student with severe disabilities can be active participants to
many commercially available games. There are also accessory packages available
for Golf, Bowling and Bingo and for creating spinner games. It requires the use
of any single switch.

Mid-techAT

http://typesofat.wikispaces.com/MID+TECH+AT

I.
Early Childhood-

6aTime Timer (Generaction) – This will
help children who are a little slower than others to

stay on task.The
child will know how much longer he or she has to do a particular task in red as
the clock counts down. This will help children who are a little slower than
others to stay on task. Instantly shows children time remaining for a task and
give sensory challenged children confidence

6bTalking Photo Album- This is
an inexpensive way for a child to write a story. For children with learning
disabilities are more visual learners they can tell the story and display
pictures.
The photo book has digitized speech device. Individuals can record four minutes
of speech, 10 seconds at a time, in any language of your choice. You can use
photos, book cutouts, symbols, drawings, Xeroxes, newspaper clippings, and/or
text on each of its 24 pages. Individuals can use TPAs to give instructions, to
begin a conversation, to tell stories, to record autobiographical information,
to facilitate daily conversation, to order in a restaurant, to facilitate
memory and for scores of other purposes.

II.
Elementary Age-

7a.Time Timer (Generaction) –– The
child will know how much longer he or she has to do a particular task in red as
the clock counts down. This will help children who are a little slower than
others to stay on task.

III.Secondary and/or Post-Secondary-

8a.Neo (AlphaSmart, Inc.) portable
keyboard – This would bemainly
used in schools for students who have dysgraphia or trouble producing written
language or other learning disabilities that make penmanship unreadable or
difficult to produce. Keyboards have small displays that allow the user to see
a few lines at a time, but material either needs to be printed or downloaded
onto a personal computer into a word processing program to see larger areas of
text and for more editing features.

8b.Speaking Homework Wiz– This device
helps students with proper spelling and definitions as well as penmanship. This
tool can help a child stay on task with his or her homework. It promotes
reading support for student independence.

IV.
Home and Recreation
9a.Talking Photo Album- This is an
inexpensive way for a child to write a story. For children with learning
disabilities are more visual learners they can tell the story and display
pictures. The photo book has digitized speech device. Individuals can record
four minutes of speech, 10 seconds at a time, in any language of your choice.
You can use photos, book cutouts, symbols, drawings, Xeroxes, newspaper
clippings, and/or text on each of its 24 pages. Individuals can use TPAs to
give instructions, to begin a conversation, to tell stories, to record
autobiographical information, to facilitate daily conversation, to order in a
restaurant, to facilitate memory and for scores of other purposes.

9b.
Neo (AlphaSmart, Inc.) portable keyboard – This would be
mainly used in schools for students who have dysgraphia or trouble producing
written language or other learning disabilities that make penmanship unreadable
or difficult to produce. Keyboards have small displays that allow the user to
see a few lines at a time, but material either needs to be printed or
downloaded onto a personal computer into a word processing program to see
larger areas of text and for more editing features.

10
a.
Touch Window – (Edmark) The Touch
Window is a touch sensitive screen that goes over the computer monitor. The
Touch Window is ideal for students who have trouble manipulating the mouse. It
is especially effective with early learners, and it is recommended for students
with developmental or physical disabilities. This portable touch screen takes
advantage of children's natural desire to reach out and touch what they see on
the computer screen. They make selections, move objects, pull down menus and
draw graphics, all with the touch of a finger.

10b.Earobics(Cognitive Concepts) – Earlobes is auditory discrimination software.Students
with reading problems may benefit from Earobics, because of the way it
exercises the ear-brain connection, the software teaches children reading
skills through a set of highly-structured games.

II. Elementary Age-

11
a. Electronic books, e.g., Start-to-Finish Books (Don Johnston) –These
books strengthen reading fluency and comprehension, so students so struggling
students can build volume. The Start-to-Finish
Library offers readers who are struggling a wide-selection of age-appropriate
narrative chapter books written at two readability levels (Gold for 2nd-3rd
Grade level, Blue for 4th-5th grade level) and availablein three media formats. The students can
practice reading fluently and with comprehension using multiple text and
electronic supports, while accessing the curriculum’s required topics, genres
and literature.

11
b.Inspiration/Kidspiration (Inspiration)
– Children that have difficulty with reading comprehension can greatly benefit
from programs and curriculum that provide visual support.Kidspiration is a software application
program designed for K-5 learners and develops "thinking, literacy and
numeracy skills using proven visual learning principles. In reading and
writing, Kidspiration strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and
written expression."

III.
Secondary and/or Post-Secondary-
12 a. Zoomcaps would be good for a student with low
vision. The visibility is enabled by color-coded letters and numbers and
function keys.ZoomCaps™ have upper-case
letters with white letters on black for high contrast or black letters on beige
to match keyboard. Lower-case keyboard labels from Hooleon feature color-coded
vowels, numbers and keyboard functions.

12b.
Electronic text -For students living with visual impairments or learning
disabilities the E-Text makes printed formats more accessible. E-text is
textual information available in an electronic format. This text can be read
and interacted with on or by a computer. E-Text can be converted into several
accessible formats to meet students’ various needs.

IV.
Home & Recreation

13
a.Board Maker –The Board Maker is
designed for individuals challenged by significant speech or language
disabilities. The Board Maker can be useful in the classrooms to support
students with a wide variety of reading, cognitive and communication needs.This tool has features like natural
sounding voices, word prediction and more. It has Picture Communication Symbols
software; create stories with text/symbols; picture dictionaries, supplement
text with symbols, substitute text with symbols, create communication boards,
etc.

13
b.Loc Dots – This will helped students
who are visually impaired with raised plastic dots that are used to identify
keys on a keyboard or objects. In this way students with visual impairment can
use their sense of touch to find the keys on a keyboard or object with the dots
placed on them.

Response
“14” Name a the product and tell why you might see yourself using it in the
classroom.

One product that would be useful in a
dream classroom as an assistive device is called the Zoom Text Magnifier and
Screen Reader. This tool magnifies the computer screen for the visually
impaired child. The child can use the Zoom Text Magnifier reader computer
software program to help visualize the screen, when the student is trying to do
computer work. This will help the child interact with classmate in a
collaboration project, and be part of the group without allowing the visual
impairment to slow down the learning process.

Voice Thread In my technology
class at East Carolina University, we learned how to use Voice Thread to
make a slide show presentation. We could share pictures of an event in
our lives that we wanted to share, and then we could comment on other
classmate's Voice Threads. The teacher set up a Class Google Doc in
which everyone in the class were asked to submit their url into the
Google Doc for classmates to be able to access each classmates Voice
Thread submission. Once the url was copied and pasted into the browse,
students could access the Voice Thread of classmates and leave a comment
about that particular voice Thread. I found Voice Thread very easy to
use.

What is Voice Thread ?

Access the url below to read 7 Things you should know about Voice Thread.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7050.pdf

Tutorial on how to use Voice Thread.

Voice Thread has several tutorial videos on the site that tell how to use Voice Thread. https://voicethread.com/share/409/

How to use Voice Thread

How to use a smartboard with voice thread

Here are several articles I found on how to incorporate Voice Thread in the classroom.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Children that have difficulty with reading comprehension can greatly
benefit from programs and curriculum that provide visual support.
Kidspiration is a software application program designed for K-5 learners
and develops "thinking, literacy and numeracy skills using proven
visual learning principles. In reading and writing, Kidspiration
strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written
expression." It is a researched based program and research has shown
that "visual learning" is one of the best methods to teach thinking
skills. To learn more about Kidspiration and Inspiration, please refer
to the links below.

The example above is a Venn diagram lesson that can be used to help
improve reading comprehension skills. Venn diagrams are used to compare
and contrast subjects, characters, or stories that students have just
read about. This Venn diagram template in Kidspiration allows you to
incorporate both picture symbols and text to further help students
remember and associate pictures with what they learned. This visual
learning technique allows students to "strengthen their reading and
writing skills as they express their ideas, compare stories, and
communicate their understanding of concepts and vocabulary visually." A
great way to use this Venn diagram tool would be not only after
reading, but before reading to increase reading comprehension.
Students can come up with ideas and pictures about what they already
know about the topic and share with a partner to increase their
background knowledge. During the reading, the teacher can pause a few
times so that students can add to their Venn diagram. After the reading
is complete, the students can make any corrections or additions.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Tar Valley Reading Council Workshop for October was about ways that
computer technology and literacy can be integrated in the classroom. The
workshop contained many ideas in using ipad applications for students and
teachers. The workshop was located at South Greenville Elementary in Greenville,
North Carolina. The speaker was Lauren Boucher. One application that was
discussed was Nearpod which is a computer application in which teachers and
students can create presentations with pdf files and mp4 video files. You can
insert a draw it in which the teacher can have the students draw out a diagram
to practice handwriting, if the students have a paragraph in which the teacher
wants the students to pick adjectivesthis can be done. If there is one student that shows excellent work, the
teacher can share the work with the entire class as an example for the other
students to follow. The student’s identity will not be known and up to 10
presentations can be stored. Educreations is a white board
application which allows teachers to build lessons. The teacher can record his
or herself by annotating documents. For a word family lesson the teacher would
talk to the students about a picture word that comes up on the screen.Students can be called up to the screen to tell
what the first letter for each picture word that is showing. The teacher can
have another lesson on the ipad where students can write the words. Pictures can
be brought in from a camera roll that is straight from the teacher’s drop box
account. Pictures can be accessed from the web by clicking on the picture and
it pops up on the screen. Students can use this to do their own video tutorials
and it can be sent to their teacher’s website for students to view when they
are absent from school. Storylines for schools is an
application in which several students could play a game by telling a story. One
person makes a title or a phrase, the next person illustrates what the title or
phrase is about then, the next person has to guess what the title or phrase is
by the illustration. This game would be
great to run home a study of idioms during a literature block. In this way the
children are not only learning, but they are having fun while learning.Scribble Press is an
application that will allow students and teachers to create their own books.
Templates are available in which the student can just fill in the blank or they
can create their own story from scratch. They can insert pictures. It can be
added to ibook on the ipad. It can be inserted as a pdf and printed or the book
can be emailed which will generate a link. Students can write their own caption
to their books. Teachers could write their own stories at their student’s level
for the reading groups to go along with the topic of study.Another application that can be
facilitated on the ipad for students is called Sparkle Fish. Students pick a
story and the application reads the story to them. There are about five stories
that are free. The rest have to be paid in advance in order to access them.
This application could be used to teach the different parts of speech. Students
can pick a story to record, and then record the missing words. The application
then tells the story out loud with the words added that the student recorded.
The student could be asked to write their own fairy tale with this application.
Last, interactive E Books are a
great tool for students to work on their reading. There are some books that are
free, and the rest of the books can be accessed for a fee. One E Book is called
Magic Town which is an application that students can earn free books by
visiting the site often. The students can also earn new characters by entering
the site often. Once the lion is met in magic town, the lion will bring free
books in Magic Town. The E Books are interactive to grab the children’s
interest and help them acquire a love for reading.Links that can be made to the
reading course is that teachers can find these technological tools useful
during center time to teach the students their sight words. Students can learn
to write sentences in a fun way by making a game out of learning, and become
more proficient readers through interactive play.

If you would like to attend these workshops,you may find information in the link below for the locations and times:

What Makes a Great Teacher Website? As I was thinking what would make a great teacher website, I thought about what I would want on the site as a student, a mother, and a teacher. The teacher should state his or her philosophy of teaching and give a little personal and professional information about his or herself. It would be good for the parents to be able to relate to the teacher on a personal level, so they can feel comfortable discussing their child with the teacher. The parents and teacher will need to be a team that is looking out for the best interest of the child. I know I would want a calendar and a schedule of school events, a homework page with assignments that are kept up-to-date, a menu in case I need to make my child's lunch, a class page to display the students projects and events with pictures, and a page for students to go to for games and fun sites for learning. The Common Core Standards and the Essential Standards should be a part of the site, because this is what the children are expected to accomplished during the year. Parents should be able to look at the standards and know what goals their child is expected to meet by the end of the year. The website should not be cluttered,so the students,parents, and others visiting the website can easily navigate through the site.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Live Binders - Online Binders of Webpages and Images

Live Binders is allows you to create online binders of webpages, images, and documents. Live Binders displays your collected content in a tabbed, book-like format. You can
create binders for as many topics as you like. Adding content to your
Live Binder can be done by manually typing in the url of a webpage,
upload files from your computer to your Live Binder, or add content
through the Live Binders bookmarklet for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Applications For Education:Live Binders
could be an excellent tool for students to use to create online
booklets of resources they find online combined with content that
they have created, or students could build Live Binders to showcase the work that they have done.

I opened up a Diigo account, but I think I like Delicious better simply because it does not have all the extras. I think I just like things simple. It seems that I do not need all the highlighting and archive extras. The best part is the bookmarking, so that I do not have to take up the bookmark space on my computer when I want to find a lesson plan or great resources for teachers and students.